The Deep Aquarium Review + Photos • Trip Meets Travel

The Deep Aquarium is located in Hull in East Yorkshire and is an extraordinary sealife centre in Hull that is perfect for an indoor activity with kids that the whole family will enjoy.

Located at the docks in Hull it has to be visited for you to see its full potential and why so many people recommend The Deep when you are looking for a family day out in East Yorkshire.

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Table of Contents

The Deep Hull

I mentioned to a friend that we had just booked Scarborough Sealife Centre, and their first reaction was, its not a patch on how good The Deep in Hull is.

Well, The Deep has been on our to do list ever since moving back to the UK from the Algarve in 2021 and we finally booked our tickets online and excitedly looked forward to our trip to The Deep the next day.

Though in cheeky, lets make the kids wait to see where we are going style, it was a rainy weekend, and it was Saturday night and we put them to bed without knowing. They knew it was either The Deep or The Harry Potter Mini Golf in York.

We choose The Deep because it was closest from our house, and we wanted an easy Sunday! So technically our trip to The Deep was all about a lazy Sunday, with some education thrown in!

The Deep Parking

Okay, a bit of honesty here. I don’t Hull all that well, which is really bad considering our front door to Kingswood is less than a 20 minute drive. Yes, I know how to get to Nando’s at Kingswood, we have been to a handful of other places, but beyond that we are totally uneducated about Hull.

This sounds even worse, when I mention my best friend lives in Hull and my dad is a Hull boy and so was my paternal grandparents. I spent many summers growing up in Hull, and my grandparents even managed Hull Marina!

Yet here we are getting all stressed of missing our slot for The Deep, what parking there will be and isn’t this just a big industrial estate we are heading into.

I’m pretty good on Google Maps, but it felt like we must be going the wrong way, but we followed the directions, headed towards the docks like people tell you to and then arrive at The Deep Carpark.

It is huge and there is plenty of The Deep Parking for everyone, even on a busy rainy Sunday. It is Pay & Display but just over £3 for 5 hours which is not bad.

Arriving at Hull Aquarium

You have parked at Hull Aquarium now what? Once headed through the doors you will go to the ticket section, regardless of if you have an annual pass yet or not.

At this point if its your first visit, your photo will be taken for the system, this is so that you can have your photo on file and return as many times as you want over the next 365 days.

I find it very smart of them that they photo you as a family, rather than doing each person at a time.

Arriving At The Deep — Even on a busy day the queue really wasn’t that bad to get into The Deep. There was 3 members of staff dealing with arrivals and they were all friendly and efficient.

They were very efficient in the ticket area, and we were soon through and ready to get started in our Hull aquarium experience.

Toilets At The Deep — If the kids or you need the toilet there are toilets before the tickets as well as many toilet stops throughout. It’s a much bigger aquarium so its very handy to have more than just the one at the entrance.

Our Trip at Hull Sea Life Centre

The style of the deep aka Hull Sea Life Centre is different to the aquariums I am used to and nothing like Blackpool Sealife Centre or the Sea Life Centre inside of Zoo Marine instead you either go up in the lift or climb three flights of stairs. Call us crazy, but we chose the stairs and good for a Sunday workout!

Then once you have done the stairs, its like coming back down a winding road, a bit like the escalators at the airport just minus the moving about. Its fun and then you can glance down at the floor below you to see where you are going next.

Walking Around The Deep Hull — Here is the view as I am walking around at The Deep and how you have a good glance of what is coming. Plus, I would much rather do the stairs first, then gradually go uphill!

Our first impression of the aquarium is how educational it is. It feels more like the experience you would get at Eden Camp rather than what you would get at a basic aquarium.

Did You Know Signs At The Deep — Here is one of the “did you know signs” they have them throughout The Deep and they are brilliant for learning as parents and for the kids to learn too. They can find out so much about the various sea life.

Learning About Seahorses At The Deep — For example, they have amazing info on everything that is at the deep. The first one that came to our attention was the sea horse info. But if there is a specific sea creature you are really into, then you can easily learn about it here.

No Flash Photography At The Deep — Though sorry if some of these pictures are a little dark. As you can see they were all taken without any flash photography, but it will still give you an idea of what to visit at the deep.

Hull Deep – Our Top 5 Favourites

There is just so much to see at The Deep. My friend is right it really is the top place to be and you will love every moment of it.

I couldn’t possibly tell you about every single thing at the deep it would end up being 1 million words, so instead, to help you plan your visit to the deep in hull, lets run through our favourite five.

#1 The Deep Penguins – these beauties deserve a good mention. They are gorgeous and we spent quite a while checking out the penguins and watching them wander about. There was several of them and as you head into the penguin area it has a measuring wall of true penguin sizes, so you can see how you compare.

Measuring Yourself To A Penguin At The Deep — This is us measuring Jorge and Sofia against the penguin height chart. They cant believe they are shorter than a penguin!

Then after this, you head down a corridor and the corridor are icy cold, and you can touch the walls and feel how cold it naturally is.

Ice Cold Walls At The Penguin Area At The Deep — This is the kids checking out the icy cold wall. Though cheeky Sofia then thought it would be funny to put her hand up my back. I couldn’t believe how cold it was!

Then you get to the enclosed area where the penguins live and you can take some pictures of them, watch them jump in for a swim and some are show-offs and want their pictures taken, and others will give you the cold shoulder.

Penguins At The Deep — Looks like we found one of the posing penguins at the aquarium. There is always one that loves the attention and knows how gorgeous they are!

#2 Bempton Cliffs – I loved this interactive section, and it was another educational great for the kids. In fact, it was so interactive it made Jorge jump!

You have a little section that shows the way a wave from the sea comes into the little cave and creates extra water.

Bempton Cliffs At The Deep — This is the section the kids were looking at that filled with water and made Jorge jump out of his skin as he just wasn’t expecting it.

Then they also have this great big interactive board of the Bempton Cliffs area and you can do your photos against it and it makes really good pics to take home with you.

Interactive Bempton Cliffs Wall — This is the backdrop of the Bempton Cliffs area that takes a brilliant picture with the kids. Minus waiting ages because another 3 year old kept running up and down.

#3 The Deep Hull Sharks – If you like sharks then Hull sea life will certainly not disappoint you. There are lots of tanks at the aquarium and there is also a tank that is incredibly deep that covers a vast area as you are walking around. This allows you to get the sharks on photo at lots of different angles and spend more time looking at them.

The Deep Sharks — This is one of the shark pictures we managed to take. But it was busy, and its getting that perfect angle when there is so many people around you and they have a big tank to go at.

#4 The Lazy Turtle – I loved this because it reminded me of how lazy our Boxer is at home and how she can fall asleep on the side of the sofa with most of her body hanging over the edge and wondering how on earth she is comfy. We watched the turtle sleep hanging off the side of the rock and then move off and go for a leisurely swim.

The Sleeping Turtle At The Deep — This is the turtle fast asleep on its rock, enjoying its afternoon nap!

#5 The Interactions – What makes The Deep so much better than regular sealife centres is all the amazing interactive options it has for the kids.

Sofia and Jorge loved every moment and got involved in so much and learnt so much too. Plus, we had fun too learning with them.

Following Questions As They Learn About PH — They learned about various PH levels in the water and what they meant and had several areas at The Deep where they needed to choose from multiple choice questions.

Interactive Sand At The Beach — There was also interactive sand at The Deep which they loved. It was just hard getting them out of the sand when there was other things to see.

I estimate that they did about 40 interactive sections at The Deep. It could have been more, but its hard to keep track of them all.

Hull Deep – In Photos

There are just so many different tanks to check out and so many different fish to look at so here are a few more photos of some of the sea life that we photographed as we walked around The Deep.

Pirahnas At The Deep — I think this piranha wants to eat me rather than me take a photo. What do you think?

Jellyfish At The Deep — There was also a lot of jellyfish at the deep. The kids are always fascinated by them and we usually spend a few minutes checking them out.

Finding Nemo At The Deep — I also found nemo at the deep but nemo didn’t want to be found and kept hiding behind the various rocks.

Yellow Sealife At The Deep — And wow isn’t this yellow puffer fish a beauty. I couldn’t stop photographing and admiring just how beautiful it looks. Note this is without the flash on so I better it looks even better.

Stingray At The Deep — And of course, the big tank is just not the same without the stingrays. They have a few so there is always the chance to take a picture of at least one of them.

Spongebob At The Deep — We also found SpongeBob. He wasn’t in the tank but in the shop? I think he is a bit confused and needs his Patrick!

Hull Deep Review

We just LOVED The Deep and even more impressed that you can come back whenever you want.

It certainly is a great rainy-day place to be when you are looking for things to do in Hull for families.

For an aquarium in Yorkshire, you won’t go wrong with The Deep.

The two things we preferred at Blackpool Sealife Centre is that they had staff around the aquarium chatting to the kids and telling them great info about the creatures they were viewing. Blackpool also had the opportunity to pet the creatures in the rock pool.

Plus, we also loved the extra toilets at Hull Deep as well as having a café before the aquarium was finished.

We would highly recommend a trip to The Deep Aquarium in Hull when you are next in the area.

The Deep Hull Visitor Information

Where is The Deep? The Deep is Hull’s answer to a sealife centre and is located right at the docks. If you follow the signs for the docks, then you will find The Deep. The Deep address for your sat nav is Tower Street Hull HU1 4DP.

The Deep Parking. There is amble parking at The Deep and is Pay & Display. Because most people stay for a couple of hours rather than a full day its easy to get parked.

How long does The Deep take in Hull? We timed ourselves around The Deep and we left exactly 2hr45 minutes after arriving. Note this did include a trip to the gift shop on the way out. I would recommend planning a 2-3 hour visit depending on how fast you are.

The Deep Opening Times. The Deep when we visited opened at 10am and closed at 6pm. Though this can vary depending on the time of the year so do check their website for full details.

The Deep Tickets. The Deep in Hull is reasonably priced considering you can return as many times as you like within the year. On checking the family ticket (2 adults and 2 children bought separately) works out at £70.50. That is £17.62 each. Visit 3 times in the year and its just £5.87 per visit per person.

Can you just turn up to The Deep Hull? When we arrived, the lady told us that you can arrive without pre-booking when its during the day and not busy. In other words, if going on a weekend or school holidays they recommend you head over to their website and pre-book.

Pin The Deep Hull For Later!

Well, that’s a wrap, do you have any questions then do ask below and if you want to refer back, to this later for planning your Hull Sealife visit then don’t forget to pin it to your travel board or days out board on Pinterest.

About the author

Run by Sam, Dom, Kyle, Sofia & Jorge it documents our family’s love for eating out, day trips, road trips and great holidays.

We just love a trip, we love to travel, and here we will show you with a little planning, how to have a great adventure and create new memories along the way!